<p>This dissertation examines the influence of Keats's medical training
and knowledge on his poems and letters, an influence that has usually
been ignored or denied. While a fair amount of attention has been focused
on the immediate biographical facts of Keats's five-year apprenticeship
to the surgeon Thomas Hammond and his year of training at Guy's Hospital,
very little has been paid to the influence of medical science on his
thought; no comprehensive study of such influence has been attempted
previously.</p>
<p>As a certain amount of confusion still surrounds the details of
Keats's personal experiences as a medical student, the first chapter
examines the biographical facts of his training. In addition, it outlines
the state of medical education in the early nineteenth century, generally
in England and specifically at Guy's Hospital. The subsequent chapters
trace the influence of Keats's medical knowledge on his thought, a single
chapter being devoted to each of the subjects Keats studied as a medical
student: chemistry, botany, anatomy and physiology, and pathology and
medicine. In each case, specific images and metaphors, as well as broader
ideas and attitudes, are examined in the poetry and correspondence.</p>
<p>The chapter on chemistry examines the influence of chemical terms
and concepts on Keats's ideas concerning artistic creativity and the
workings of the imagination, as expressed in the letters. The chapter on
botany deals with specific natural images of plants, trees, flowers, and
vegetables in the poems, as well as with Keats's broader approach to the
creative and destructive forces in nature. The chapter on anatomy and
physiology examines the descriptions of the body, particularly of the
brain, in the poetry and letters, as well as Keats's ideas on sensation
and imagination, in light of his anatomical and physiological knowledge.
The final chapter deals with the influence of Keats's knowledge of pathology
and medicine on his understanding of his own illnesses and on his
descriptions of the diseased states of his protagonists; in addition, it
traces the development of his view of life, love, and creativity in metaphorical
terms of disease and health, and examines his concept of the poet
as a physician. Throughout, my purpose has been to enhance our understanding
of the poetry.</p> / Thesis / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:mcmaster.ca/oai:macsphere.mcmaster.ca:11375/15490 |
| Date | 04 1900 |
| Creators | Goellnicht, Donald Crichlow |
| Contributors | Coldwell, Joan, English |
| Source Sets | McMaster University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
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